Song, 41, an oncologist who works at Chicago's Little Company of Mary Hospital, flew her family and his own to Chicago over the holidays to surprise Ling at the restaurant Charlie Trotter's, where he proposed in a private dining room.

The couple, who met through mutual friends, plan to marry later this year.

Ling, 33, broke off her engagement to media entrepreneur Philip Levine in October 2005. She was a co-host on ABC's The View before leaving in 2002 to host National Geographic's Ultimate Explorer.

Song earned his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine and trained at the University of Chicago Hospitals.